Little-Known Desmond Stars in Inaugural O's-Nats Game

FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Remember the name of Ian Desmond. Or don’t.

As temperatures plunged into the teens back in Washington, D.C., this week, the most memorable thing about the first ever meeting between our two regional major league baseball teams, the new Washington Nationals and veteran Baltimore Orioles in Ft. Lauderdale last Saturday may turn out to be the sunny, 78-degree weather.

Other than that, perhaps, most memorable was the incredible symbolic significance of the game, lost on neither D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams, who was present hob-nobbing around the batting cage during pre-game batting practice, nor Comcast, which televised the game widely. Can the teams successfully co-exist in the same Washington-Baltimore region, one team stacked with stars and the other with eager no-namers? The game showcased the classic contrasts and question marks inherent in the arrival of a second major league team to the area.

But then you couldn’t overlook the ingredient that makes baseball the very, very special sport that it is. It could be called “The Kid Makes It,” or, at least, “The Kid Makes for a Day.” It was there Saturday, too.
In other sports, the big stars of the future emerging from adolescence have been singled out since about age five. By the time of high school, everyone paying attention knows who the next first round NBA picks or college gridiron or basketball all-Americans will be.

But in baseball, a lot of pretty good athletes are swept up by the pros out of high school or college, but very few who will eventually develop into stars can be picked out in advance.

That’s because baseball is not a sport dependent simply on size or speed. A lot of it has to do with things like savvy, self-development, maturity and coolness under fire.

Those qualities keep many a player in the game long after their years, and also can result in the surprising success of many a young `un.

IAN DESMOND (right) has mad a good impression this spring. (News-Press photo by Jody Fellows)

In the case of Ian Desmond, this 19-year-old who was playing high school baseball in Sarasota, Florida, a year ago at this time, and was not even listed on the Washington Nationals’ roster last weekend, was the hero of the first ever Nationals-Orioles game.

Not Sammy Sosa, who was ejected for howling about a bad call in right field in the second inning. Not Rafael Palmeiro, who together with Sosa, give the Orioles the first-ever tandem of future Hall of Famers with over 500 home runs apiece to play together on the same team.

Not Javy Lopez, not Miguel Tejada. Not even Melvin Mora nor the one player on the Nationals’ roster that anyone has heard of before, Brad Wilkerson.

It was the earnest-looking, Johnny Hustle-type Desmond, the unknown kid with the Aussie-like first name, but who isn’t one.

It was up-and-down for Desmond once he entered the game at its mid-point. He had been invited to join the team for spring training because it is so lacking in shortstops.

His first at-bat he struck out. But then he made a solid play at short, gobbling up a grounder and throwing out a runner at the plate. The O’s thought they had a sure run, and everyone was surprised when Desmond went home with the ball and got the out.

Then Desmond got his first hit, beating out a high infield chopper to the right of second. But then he got picked off first base. Yep, up and down.

Then came the ninth, and the Nats behind 5-4. With a runner on first and one out and the O’s ace closer, B. J. Ryan, on the mound, George Arias and Gary Bennett singled to tie the game and Alex Escobar walked to load the bases.

That’s when Ian Desmond came to the plate, and became the unlikely hero of the day by lashing a grounder right over the bag at third. The umpire skipped to get out of the way of the ball, and then signaled a fair ball.

Next thing you know, Desmond is on third, three players scoring ahead of him. He then scampered home on another hit, capping the Nats’ scoring and securing what eventually became a sweet, come-from-behind 9-6 victory.

So where does it go from here? We’d like to say the kid, like the Nats, will defy obscurity and the improbable to come out on top. Don’t know yet. What we do know is that Desmond’s gotten two more hits since Saturday, raising his average this spring to .417, and made a circus play on defense Monday that skipper Frank Robinson called one of the best he’s seen, and after Tuesday’s first cut, was still on the team.